


What World Are You Living In?

by SereneSorrow



Category: Bleach
Genre: Dimension Travel, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, ShinIchi Week 2019, Sort-of, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 06:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17657360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneSorrow/pseuds/SereneSorrow
Summary: Shinji has been suspicious of his lieutenant for a long time, but this is definitely the last straw.Or:WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!?!~One of these things is not like the others.





	What World Are You Living In?

**Author's Note:**

> ShinIchi Week, Day 2 - Dimension Travel (although I tried to also combine it with Day 1 - Trust)
> 
> Ack, this is sooo long but I felt like I was having a hard time getting into character with Shinji, so everything I've been trying to write for ShinIchi Week (I think I started writing on like January 12?) has gotten out of hand. This is the only one that I actually managed to keep as a oneshot, and it still might have a sequel!
> 
> And, WARNING (I guess?) : bad guys die with blood.
> 
> I think that's everything... if I missed any important tags be sure to let me know! :)

     “What the hell is that?” Shinji asked as he approached his lieutenant and third seat.

     The man looked around at him, glasses flashing oddly ominously, as he stepped back from the wall they were observing. Aizen-fukutaicho glanced back at the black tear in the wall that gaped open like the hungry mouth of a garganta.

     “I don't know, Jirou reported it as a black stain on the wall, when I arrived it had already become this... hole.” Aizen-fukutaicho explained as Shinji stepped closer for a look at the ragged edges of blackness that had torn from the uniform white wall.

     A sudden pulse echoed from the tear, a warbling sub-vocal vibration that grated against the senses, and it stretched open wider emanating a heavy pull like its own gravity. Before Shinji could take a prudent step back from the threat he was shoved forward off his feet by firm hands and was caught in the tear's relentless pull, sucked wide-eyed into the darkness. He lost sight of his subordinates instantly when the tear snapped shut around him and he felt the lurching sensation of sudden changes in direction that he had become so accustomed to with his zanpakutō's ability.

     He considered drawing Sakanade to counter the effects but wasn't sure he could risk losing hold of his sword in this mess of a dimension. Fighting down the sick churning in his gut Shinji tried to get his bearings but there was no differentiating between one patch of darkness and another, until he was suddenly thrust out of another tear of blinding light.

     Shinji fell to the ground the second the tear behind him snapped shut and its gravity disappeared. Taking a moment to just breathe and settle his stomach while he stretched his senses out around him to determine if there were any threats nearby Shinji finally rose when he was sure he could stay on his feet.

     “What the?” Shinji didn't know what to think at the sight that greeted him. The wind billowed around him and tossed his long hair into a cloud of dust that made him choke. Climbing a pile of jagged white rocks to escape the dust he tossed his hair over one shoulder and looked at the expanse of rubble around him. He was nowhere familiar, white sands crested in waves and dunes as far as he could see to his right while all along to his left appeared to be the ruins of a city of impossibly tall buildings.

     “Hirako-taicho!” A familiar voice called from behind him and Shinji spun to face his lieutenant, though not as he had last seen the man. Aizen looked years younger, almost as Shinji remembered him when he had first joined squad five right out of the academy. He certainly didn't wear the lieutenant's badge Shinji was used to seeing on his arm.

     “Aizen-san.” Shinji said carefully, slowly, remembering the feeling of hands shoving him from behind. He'd had his suspicions. _Was this his proof?_

     “It's good to see another face, we aren't sure what's going on.” Aizen said, not appearing to notice Shinji's caution.

     “We? Who else is here?” Shinji certainly didn't see anyone, Aizen's reiatsu alone filling the air.

     “Ah, well...” Aizen trailed off as he adjusted his glasses. “He said I should introduce myself first, that you might not be who we think you are...”

     “Who?” Shinji demanded, but was startled out of any more questions by the abrupt arrival of another man stepping out of a hasty shunpo.

     “It seems you are yourself Hirako-taicho.” The man stated, bland and cold. “Good, there is little time, the beast approaches.”

     Shinji was speechless at the sight of-of- Aizen, another Aizen standing next to the first. This man was older, his hair slicked back except for a strand that trailed in front of his face and he wasn't wearing his glasses. He was also dressed all in white, though a sleeve was torn and blood stained the hem.

     “Taicho! We need to go!” student-Aizen said as white-Aizen shunpo'd away without another word.

     At the touch of Aizen's hand on his sleeve Shinji jerked into motion, more out of wariness of Aizen's touch than at the direction. Nevertheless he followed the two of them across the sands as an oppressive reiatsu darker and more savage than he'd ever felt before from a single being washed over them.

     Before Shinji could risk a glance over his shoulder to see what kind of being, white-Aizen had said 'beast', was releasing such ominous reiatsu they must have stepped over a pre-marked line as a barrier sprang up. It was far more intricate than any he had seen before, and the shimmering yellow he was accustomed to seeing remain in the walls of a barrier disappeared, leaving seemingly open air even though passage was impossible. Shinji blinked at the impressive feat and slowed his pace to normal steps beside student-Aizen.

     They were walking towards what looked like the crumbled remains of a segment of some kind of white tower turned on it's side and half-buried in sand. Gathered around the space, a fire and a table with a crude map of landmarks represented by rocks and other detritus, were... Aizen. Near on a dozen different men who were all clearly _Aizen Sosuke_.

     White-Aizen had walked over to the map table to murmur something to-was that Aizen- _taicho_?!? The man appeared to be wearing a haori for his own squad five. Over around the fire a small boy and a teenager both looked over at him curiously without recognition while a man who looked like Aizen-taicho without the captain's haori simply crooked a small smile at him and then turned away. Along the shadowed wall a man in the ragged remains of a shihakushō and wrapped in a brown cloak glared at him over a ragged scarf that covered half his face.

     Another Aizen in white but with shorter hair entirely slicked back finally separated from a group of two others he was speaking to and approached Shinji and student-Aizen while the two behind him, one dressed in some kind of strange blue suit and the other in a purple kimono both of which made Shinji wonder if they were clothes from the living world, continued speaking without him. The Aizen who approached had a rather disturbingly blank expression on his face that made Shinji uneasy.

     “How unusual, to see another face here.” Blank-Aizen drawled as he stopped a few feet from them.

     This was too confusing. He needed information. Shinji took a close look at the way student-Aizen smiled at the Aizen before him. Despite being ignored almost coldly by blank-Aizen as the man studied Shinji with a kind of curiosity that made Shinji's skin crawl student-Aizen seemed to be perfectly comfortable with the man's proximity. Shinji wasn't sure he'd be comfortable seeing a look like that in his own eyes but he buried his discomfort. As a captain he'd become well practiced at hiding it if he was feeling threatened by any one or any thing, it was never wise to let them see you squirm.

     “I'd be thinking it's weird ta see so much of the same face if it was me.” Shinji suggested right back at blank-Aizen.

     A humorless chuckle that did nothing to shift the calculation in blank-Aizen's eyes and then an _actual_ explanation. Surprising. “We were all sucked into portals that opened in our direct vicinity or in places that we would pass in the ordinary course of our day. So far you are the first 'not-Aizen' to arrive in this wasteland. A number of us, more than we know of I'm sure, were killed by the beasts before we managed to build this camp and more of us arrive every few hours. We have yet to determine the source or purpose of the phenomenon.”

     “Or where we are?” Shinji asked, ignoring the way student-Aizen was glancing between them as if evaluating their treatment of each other.

     “Oh no. We know exactly where we are.” Blank-Aizen said as though it was obvious and Shinji had missed something so elementary that Aizen was re-evaluating the worth in speaking to him. “This is Sector-9872 of the Living World, bisecting Rukongai District 73 and Western Tower 5 of Las Noches, formerly of Hueco Mundo. The three realms have been merged into one in some kind of cataclysm that seems to have eradicated the majority of life in the three realms of this world.”

     Shinji could only blink in shock at that outlandish proclamation delivered strait. Like all of _that_ should have been obvious. Like all of _that_ was even possible. Like all of _that_ wasn't terrifying, devastating, and any number of adjectives one could think of. Slightly narrowed eyes from blank-Aizen were the only clue that the man had decided that Shinji was useless to him before the man wandered back to his conversation. Shinji let himself be led to the fire by student-Aizen and introduced around to anyone who approached them but he was too overwhelmed by _everything_ to do more than be directed until food had been passed around and sleeping arrangements sorted out.

  
***

  
     Honestly, the next morning Shinji didn't even notice that teen-Aizen was gone, disappeared in the night. It certainly wouldn't have occurred to him that the boy had been drawn off by one of his elders and chained with kido to feed his reiatsu to the barrier that guarded them. He was too busy convincing the man he _thought_ was the first white-Aizen he'd met the day before to allow him to accompany them outside the barrier to search for new arrivals, food and anything of curiosity. The man was irritatingly reluctant to allow him out of the camp and Shinji had a gut feeling that it had to do with the same suspicions he had about the Aizen-fukutaicho of his own world. _Were none of these Aizen's to be trusted?_

     Being as calculating as he could to hint around the edges of his distrust of Aizen, without saying anything outright, he finally had the man's agreement that as long as Shinji didn't go off on his own ostensibly because he might not be able to get back to camp alone then he could accompany white-Aizen on his own patrol and search.

     Shinji didn't know what he'd been expecting, instant proof that this was all somehow Aizen's fault, being thrown directly into a fight with some clearly defined enemy, a conveniently discovered way to return to the world as he knew it, but what he got was a long boring hour of looping through sand and city. The city might have been interesting, if white-Aizen had bothered to let him stop and inspect anything closer, but the man insisted on a steady pace and Shinji was about to give up and admit that he'd have rather stayed in the camp when a tear like the one he'd been pulled through opened so suddenly that white-Aizen had to yank him back and away from the danger.

     Calming his racing pulse with steady breaths Shinji had to admit he was surprised that the man had saved him after the sub-textual animosity that had stretched between them all morning. Any comment on the man's out of character action died on his tongue when Shinji got a good look at what was spat out of the tear. All white, the figure had three sets of deformed wings like a butterfly growing out of its back, each tipped with what surely looked like a _skull_ and its face apparently split in half across it's skull to reveal black flesh and three eyes. It's torso was studded with three holes bored all the way through like a hollow and a black blade extended from it's right arm.

     It screeched, a sound of pure rage and white-Aizen tried to pull him away but a sudden crush of the same dark reiatsu from yesterday heralded the arrival of the Aizen's 'beast' and Shinji's feet lagged as he was drawn back from the two beings as they clashed. To be honest, Shinji would say the butterfly was more of a 'beast' then the hollow that had arrived to engage it in what appeared to be a battle to the death. The hollow didn't appear to have a mask in the sense that Shinji was familiar with, but it did have two massive horns extending forward over its head and the large tail of a lizard. It also had red fur ringing it's neck, wrists and ankles, large claws on both hands and feet and long black lines painting over it's face strait through it's eyes and continuing on down it's neck, shoulders and chest towards a gaping wide hollow hole right where a heart would be.

     To be honest, Shinji was terrified of both of these creatures, but white-Aizen's insistent attempts to drag him away just made Shinji more determined to observe. He wanted to know what was going on in this world and he didn't trust Aizen, any Aizen, no matter how innocent student-Aizen had seemed even he had possessed a glimmer of that look in his eyes that Shinji had never liked.

     Now however, he had an opportunity to observe the 'beast' that had Aizen so worried, and it was distracted enough not to notice him watching.

     Which turned out to be a very _bad_ thing when a stray cero carved a path miles wide just inches to Shinji's left. The blast had struck the butterfly head on and the beast caught a hold of its throat, it's other hand tearing into it's chest as another cero was fired directly into the butterfly's face. Shinji winced at the violence but wasn't so distracted that he didn't see the way white-Aizen's focus turned from Shinji himself and sharpened on the shining - _stone?_ \- the beast pulled from the butterfly's chest as it discarded the disintegrating body. _So what was Aizen's connection to the butterfly?_ _Or was it_ just _the stone?_

     His heart hammered in his chest and he could feel his hands shake as he instinctively clawed at Sakanade when he suddenly found himself at the center of the beast's attention. In less than a second the beast had turned, it's gaze zeroing in on white-Aizen and then it was in front of them, carving a bloody channel through white-Aizen's throat with the hand not holding the stone and discarding the gore with a flick of its wrist as white-Aizen dropped out of the sky like a stone at Shinji's side. Drawing Sakanade was instinct but the beast caught the blade like it was nothing, golden eyes not even glancing at the blade as it stared at him.

     A blast of kido without an incantation struck the beast and Shinji flinched back from the bright light, shunpoing away and watching in shock as white-Aizen lept after the beast, his throat healed but still bloody. _The man wasn't dead? How?_

     The beast screamed, Shinji could feel the rage in the cry as it struck out mindlessly after white-Aizen, battling him just the same as he had the butterfly. As if he couldn't tell the difference, as if they were the same enemy.

     Jumping to the side of a toppled building, just so that he'd have something to lean against to prop himself up under the increasing weight of the beast's reiatsu, Shinji watched as another furious animalistic fight culminated in the beast pulling a stone from his opponent's chest. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised after the interest white-Aizen had shown at the butterfly's stone, but he was, _why did white-Aizen have one of those stones too? What were they?_

     The beast screamed again, more a cry of triumph this time, but Shinji was too busy realizing that he probably should have been running away while the beast was still distracted rather than thinking about its feelings. Not that white-Aizen had probably been _saving_ him before when he'd attacked the beast, if the torn sleeve and bloodied hem of his clothes had been any indication white-Aizen had probably already fought the beast once before Shinji had met him, but there was certainly not going to be a repeat of that attack. Shinji was facing the beast alone now.

     Another futile attempt to raise his sword and Shinji was about to release his shikai and move into bankai as quickly as he could when the beast rumble-hissed some kind of vocalization and Shinji found himself thrown over it's massive shoulder. Before he could react they were moving at the fastest - _shunpo?!?_ \- Shinji had ever experienced until moments later it was over and Shinji found himself flung down into a pile of mostly soft materials.

     The walls around him where, well, sideways. He was inside one of the towers from the living world that had fallen on its side, though he had doubted that they were anywhere near the city they'd started out in. Above him were windows that had become a skylight, the only source of light for him to make out that the 'floor' beneath him seemed to have been turned into one big pile of bedding for multiple people. Or beings if this was where the beast slept. What else would share a sleeping space with-

     The crack of bone splintering dragged Shinji's attention back to the beast and Shinji was officially past the point of being shocked anymore as the beast ripped its own horns from its head one at a time. The transformation that occurred next lead to Shinji, sitting in a pile of fur, blankets, clothes and drapery, laying down his sword as a heavily scarred man who reminded Shinji of half a dozen Shiba's he'd met in the last few decades was revealed.

     Litterally revealed as it turned out, he was completely naked save for a red chain looping diagonally around his torso to hold a zanpakutō. The man blinked at him blankly, less focused than the beast had been in his place, and then practically collapsed face-first into the pile of cloth. Shinji couldn't help raising an eyebrow at the man when he was clearly undecided between sorting some clothes from the pile to cover himself and just dragging a blanket over himself and passing out.

     He decided on halfway between both options and dragged the nearest lumpy quilt over himself before dragging a hump of fabric up to support his back while he watched Shinji watching him. Honestly Shinji was too out of his depth here to speak first. _What the hell would he even say?_

     “How did you even get here?” The - _Shiba?_ \- asked with the dry rasping growl of someone who hadn't spoken in an eternity and _really_ needed a drink of water.

     “The same way all of those Aizen's did apparently, one of them explained that they were all being pulled here the same way, which was a perfect description of how I got here too.” He didn't quite think he should be on this man's bad side, even if he wasn't quite the beast that Aizen had labeled him. Whatever he _was_ still had Shinji worried, unsure of where he should place his trust. Just from looking at this man though, in this human form at least, he seemed so much less threatening than Aizen with that look in his eyes.

     With a frown the Shiba spoke more to himself than to Shinji. “It was only supposed to drag Aizen here, no one else should have been pulled away from their worlds...”

     “Ah, well, Aizen-fukutaicho was inspecting the tear... I'm fairly certain he pushed me into it.” Shinji offered when the Shiba's words trailed off into a worried expression.

     “I- That shouldn't work... I would have thought I'd see more of myself if that could happen...” The Shiba continued, looking at Shinji but not seeing him as he trailed off in thought.

     Honestly, Shinji couldn't say he really felt afraid anymore. He was more worried about this guy, the scars, the voice, and he was _thin_ even with all the muscle. His long hair, still the length of the beast's, was matted and tangled and even if he was exhausted Shinji didn't think he should be this listless.

     “Oi! Kurosaki! What the hell are you doing! Starrk sent me to check if you were dead!” A voice called, jolting Shinji out of his observations. His gaze snapped up to the windows above as a shadow appeared and a form cloaked in nearly as powerful reiatsu as the beast's came careening down toward them. Shinji wondered if he should move, but before he had the chance the feral blue cannonball had landed practically on - _Kurosaki's?_ \- shoulders.

     The cannonball was similar in appearance to the beast, white plate armor covering the body, a hollow hole in it's stomach and sharp clawed hands and feet. It also had long blue hair, not as long as Kurosaki's orange, and a tail that was more reminiscent of a cat. Kurosaki's head tilted back to look at the new arrival.

     “Shinji's here.” He said as he pointed at the blonde and Shinji blinked in surprise. _How did Kurosaki know his name?_ “His Aizen shoved him through the garganta-world.”

     The cat looked over at him with an appraising glare and his lips twisted into a sneer. “So you're taking a vacation to babysit? Since when do we have time for weaklings. I thought you were all excited about this plan 'cuz we could destroy every Aizen there is but one fool shows up and you're too distracted to fight?”

     At the words Kurosaki's face morphed into an angry scowl, fire burning in his eyes. “What the Hell Grimmjow? I couldn't just leave him wandering around out there! He was with one of the Aizens, who knows what could have happened to him if I hadn't gotten him out of there.”

     “Yeah, well now he's out. So what are you still doing here?” Grimmjow snarled furiously.

     Shinji thought about interjecting, saying something to break up the two men's argument, but before he could decide just what was worth getting the attention of two snarling powerhouses the two had gone from arguing to shoving each other to chasing each other out of the building and before Shinji could blink that massive reiatsu of Kurosaki's beast form had returned. He had to admit, it was dark but not quite as terrifying if it wasn't trying to kill _you_.

***

     Completely abandoned, Shinji decided that he'd go with the flow... despite the bleak surroundings he'd twice now been dragged back to someone's camp and given a place to sleep. So after Kurosaki and Grimmjow had gone back to, well he assumed that they were killing every Aizen they could get their hands on, Shinji had shrugged and made himself comfortable. A nap hadn't seemed like a terrible idea.

***  
***

     Waking up drowning in drool changed that perception, even if the flood of gross liquid was being produced from the lips of a rather attractive woman straddling him. Choking and shoving her away Shinji sat up and found himself surrounded by people with hollow masks and holes.

     A bowl of something that turned out to be edible was shoved into his hands by Kurosaki who proceeded to the introductions, seemingly ignoring Shinji's rude awakening and leaving it without explanation. Shinji resolved not to fall asleep around - _Nel_ \- ever again.

     Apparently Kurosaki was Ichigo, a Shiba but not by name. His friends were something called 'Arrancars' which was apparently the highest stage of a hollow's transformation and they were all stronger than a captain-level shinigami. Nel was rather nice actually, Shinji wouldn't have thought of her as a hollow from personality alone. Grimmjow was prickly and quick to anger, looking for a fight whereas Starrk was perpetually lazy though he seemed to be one of the stronger of their group. Harribel was quiet where Cirucci was loud and Findorr chatty where Ggio was sarcastic. A dozen more were introduced, but few of them had any interest in Shinji. More figures skirted the edges of the group, wary of the other Arrancars as well as Shinji, but everyone he'd been introduced to largely ignored them.

     The lot of them all wound up in one big pile after dinner, Ichigo draped half across Shinji's chest after Nel shoved them together with a strained grin and the rest of them all leaning into each other like a bunch of cats or something. Honestly Shinji was a bit distracted by Ichigo's embarrassed apology and halting explanations about the complete lack of any shinigami left in this world besides Ichigo himself. That was a blow, that _Aizen_ had tried to take over all three realms and destroyed the centuries old Gotei 13 in its entirety. Centuries old warriors with so much experience hadn't been able to stand against the lieutenant that Shinji had been so suspicious of.

     “The Arrancars were originally Aizen's soldiers, but they changed sides once they found out the hard way how easy it was for Aizen to throw them away.” Ichigo said, earning growls, dark chuckles and even a few whimpers from the Arrancars that shifted around him at the words.

     “When we finally destroyed him, well there wasn't much to do here, we don't have a clue how to fix this if it can even be done. So we talked about it and, well, we already killed him once. There was no reason for any other worlds to wind up like ours did, so we found a way to draw every Aizen here so that we could kill them before they could do the same thing our Aizen did.” Ichigo continued.

     “At least we get to fight strong enemies!” Grimmjow cut in loudly with a grin that Ichigo sighed at.

     “So how are you drawing them all here? It looked like that tear closed up after I got here, my lieutenant is still back in my world. How exactly are you going to send me back, or bring him here now?” Shinji asked when Ichigo let the silence lull.

     With a guilty start Ichigo looked away from him and shifted uncomfortably. Shinji's eyes narrowed at the man, a feeling of dread building.

     “I-I don't think that we can send you back, right now we're still dragging them all here, we don't actually know how many Aizens there are. Sending someone in the other direction... I don't think we can.” Ichigo was whispering at the end, and most of the Arrancars around them had made themselves busy in small ways that would make it difficult to ask them for a second opinion.

***  
***

     Shinji stared up at the ceiling from where he was surrounded by sleeping Arrancar. _What the hell had he gotten himself into now?_ The whole situation was surreal, the future. A wasteland, the three realms destroyed and nearly everyone dead while _hollows_ fought for the futures of the rest of the worlds out there. _Was he really stuck here? Forever? Was there no way for him to return home?_

     _Could he really trust Ichigo's words?_

     With a soft sigh Shinji glanced through the darkness at the Shiba illuminated in the dim moonlight sleeping beside him. Nel was curled up against Ichigo's back but Ichigo was facing Shinji himself. Before they'd fallen asleep Shinji could tell that Ichigo had wanted to keep touching him, like when Nel had pushed them together, the Arrancars were all surprisingly tactile and Ichigo seemed to want to include him in their group immediately.

     Shinji didn't know if he could be a part of this though. _Could he forget about the place he'd come from and fight beside hollows in this empty world? Could he give up on his home and everything he knew, thought he knew, and be a part of this crusade?_

     There would be less paperwork at least, Shinji thought humorlessly as Ichigo shifted in his sleep and one hand grasped Shinji's arm. Glancing back at the man Shinji took in the way he almost seemed to relax just from the contact.

     Shinji had seen a few low ranked shinigami retire from his squad after barely surviving strong hollows, had seen how people reacted to being overwhelmed. Ichigo was strong but he was also brittle and sleeping surrounded by his trusted allies was probably the only way he could sleep at all. Shinji supposed that at least for tonight he could be a security blanket for a desperate stranger, and in the morning he could learn more. About his new world or about his chances of getting home was something he could decide after a good night's sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhhhh so it wasn't really supposed to end here, but I have not had even half the time to write that I thought I would, so I guess later when I do I'll write a part 2 of this...
> 
> and a list of the alternate universe Aizens in order of appearance:  
> Aizen-fukutaicho  
> student-Aizen  
> white-Aizen  
> Aizen-taicho  
> kid-Aizen  
> teen-Aizen  
> shinigami-Aizen  
> rag-Aizen  
> blank-Aizen  
> blue-Aizen  
> purple-Aizen  
> butterfly


End file.
